Potentially dangerous faults in cars forced European governments to act 1,392 times last year using the EU’s RAPEX warning system, which is designed to stop potentially dangerous products from being sold.

This was because of injury or fire risks are “clearly linked to motor vehicles,” said a new EU report.

Vehicles were responsible for 9% of RAPEX notifications last year.

Problem-plagued Toyota had four, but warnings were also released about Vauxhall, Volvo, Jaguar, Fiat, Skoda, Renault, Honda, Volkswagen, SEAT, Peugeot, Nissan, Audi, Land Rover, Ford, Suzuki, Chevrolet, KIA, Mercedes-Benz, Citroen, Hyundai, Ferrari, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Dacia, Mitsubishi, Maserati, Veigel, and BMW models.

However, the number of actual auto notifications was down slightly on 2008: 146 versus 160 cases.

See http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/dyna/rapex/rapex_archives_en.cfm for the latest notifications